h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

She's on right now on my NPR station.

We get Fresh Air at 7pm here. I think it used to be some time in the afternoon. Mind you, we used to get Car Talk at 7pm on a Monday until they moved it to Saturday morning, which seems more apt. And I heard the trailer for Fresh Air on KLCC (Oregon) this morning, which airs it at 3pm PT.

Yeah, Fresh Air is on twice in Houston, 1 and 7.

It's taken me 58 years (55 if you take off the first three years when most people aren't really aware of popular culture) to find out that Brown Windsor soup doesn't actually exist

Note to self: Don't wipe the C drive until you remember - and find - where you put the Windows disc last time you reinstalled the OS

"Eat your bread seeded side towards you, he advises, or you'll offend local sensibilities."
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30344879

Oh good grief Really? People will get offended about the most ridiculous things, won't they.

Seeing that jug with some leftover custard in the fridge just keeps reminding me that I have no cake and no pudding in the house.

Life can be so cruel sometimes.

Dozed off, woke myself up snoring

I do the same all the time when I'm around others, like if I doze off at my parents or if I'm sharing a hotel with friends.

Yep

Fall asleep in front of the computer, wake up with a start because I'm Snoring, at O'gawd O'Clock, with a stiff neck.

I keep thinking I should swap this chair for a stool so I wake myself up by falling off.

"Rubberneckers' lorry fire snaps fine"

Knowing how convoluted (and often just plain daft) BBC headlines can often be, my first thought on reading that was people have taken photos of a lorry fire and the images are quite acceptable/have come back from the chemist and look okay.

The story http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-30427592

I wish people would get fined here for such things.

Maybe it will, eventually, and I'm sure there are lawyers who could twist the current laws and an opinionated jury to get a conviction. I know jurors aren't supposed to be opinionated but when you look at some jury decisions, such as the ridiculous amounts awarded in damages for many lawsuits, which are then reduced to something far more sensible by a judge on appeal, you have to wonder.

And it's taken a long, long time, and far too many deaths at the hands of drivers, for it to come to this in the UK.

I'm off to the supermarket in a short while to buy the rest of the ingredients for my . I know I should have made it a month ago but I didn't have the cash. Thing is, if they have any Tiptree puds again this year. will I be tempted to buy one? They are very good indeed, and I could use another pudding basin, and they are from Essex

But they're *so* expensive. The last one I bought (I think it was a 2lb organic) was $45 And that one comes in basin I don't have any more (I cooked a in it the following year, gave it to the former Mrs Gosho and she broke the basin) and which I could really use. That's a high price to pay for a piece of crockery, but the puddings are so delicious

You'd be paying for the crockery, the , *and* the time you've lost. If you'd say that the aging is worth $1 a day, then that's only $15 for the pudding and the basin, and that's not bad for a decent bit of crockery that's only been used once (and you actually know what it's been used for!)

The decision's been taken out of my hands - they didn't have any and they haven't had them for a few years now. I guess they didn't sell so well (not surprised at that price), and I do recall seeing a few on the 'Christmas stuff priced to clear' rack in January one year.

Whereupon I bought another one, obviously

So, home-made it is then.

Now, should I make a Christmas cake too...

Hmmm. If I use the same recipe as last year it'll make enough for two puddings. What I did was to divide the mix into two, steam one for six hours and then steam the second the following day, because I no longer have that other pudding basin, which happens to be just about the same size as one I do have. I had one of them at Christmas and I kept the other one in the pantry for six months and had it in July.

I don't really want to do that this time so I'll have to halve the recipe. It's got three eggs in it... I'll just use two eggs - that's not going to make much of a difference. All the other ingredients can be halved easily because they're mostly dry goods. But there's half a pint of ale in this pudding. That's (near as dammit) a 12oz bottle, so I'm going to have half a bottle left over. Whatever shall I do with that?

Last year I used a bottle of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout that I'd aged for a couple of years. This time I'm using a local brew - Independence Convict Hill Stout http://www.independencebrewing.com/our-beers/year-round-beers/convicthill/ And I still have a little of that BrewDog Tactical Nuclear Penguin left. You know, that 32% ABV stout That went into last year's pudding too

There aren't many breakfasts better than a potato cake made from leftover mash that's been in the fridge a few days and some flour and fried in bacon fat, with baked beans and a fried egg

Except when you're having it at 6.30pm, four hours before you have to go back to work.

Oh, that's clever http://twitter.com/lynnemthomas/status/546414898142781440

Is it just me, or do they look unbearably smug?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30586950